#literally the only arguments I saw in favor of the issue was 1) people outside Ohio are gonna make our laws

[itstimetodrew]

Ohio republicans trying to hold an election they hoped would go unnoticed in order to deny Ohioans simple majority rule (changing it from 50% to 60% majority), only for it to be one of the highest voter turnouts for an August election ever in the state AND the votes against them being 60%+ anyway? Lol. Lmao even.

[makeste]

I saw this take on twitter about Hana & Kacchan having “reverse parallels” and since they both have apologised to Tenko/Deku (but one was more or less sincere and the other was absolutely sincere) and they said that, while Hana moved away from Tenko, Kacchan ran to catch Deku. There was also more to the thread abt Kacchan & Hana’s differences. They were sorta trying to argue that this is a clue that Hori intends for Bkdk to be sibling-like/brotherly. As a bkdk shipped, I’ve accepted that it makes sense.. cause it’s an established fact that Tenko & Deku parallel each other. Tenko having his own “Kacchan” makes sense. Tho yes I am a little sad since I’ve held a little bit of hope for romantic bkdk becoming canon. I just wanted to ask your opinion if Hana was really meant to foil Kacchan or was it just a reach?

okay so I have a couple responses to this.

1. while it's true that Horikoshi has woven a lot of deliberate parallels between Deku and Tenko's characters, that doesn't mean every single thing about their lives and every single person they interact with is a part of those parallels. which is to say that no, I don't really think Hana and Kacchan are meant to mirror each other in any kind of significant way. Hana's apology to Tenko was under completely different circumstances than Kacchan's apology to Deku; I really don't see any connection between the two situations. you might as well be trying to compare Hana to Endeavor, or Deku, or Hawks, or Aizawa, or any other character who's apologized to anyone over the course of the story.

2. please pardon the forthcoming rant, anon -- and I hope you know that none of this is aimed at you in particular -- but for me personally, this whole obsession with ships becoming canon is one of the most exasperating types of discourse there is. like, don't get me wrong, I totally understand people wanting to see their favorite ships validated by the author, and not to mention there's also the issue of having more LGBTQ+ representation. but speaking as someone whose own orientation (aromantic) has almost no representation in fiction whatsoever, it gets frustrating to see so many people dismiss non-romantic relationships as being an inferior type of ship, to the extent that calling a relationship "sibling-like" is now a commonly-used attack in ship wars. so many people view romance as this completely transformative element, to the point where two characters can literally tick every other box on the intimate personal relationship checklist, and none of it will matter to some people unless they actually confess their love and kiss.

and again, I'm not saying I don't understand it, especially since queerbating is a thing. it's one thing if a writer is genuinely just trying to portray a close friendship, especially in series where romance isn't really a focus. but it's another thing entirely if a writer is deliberately hinting at a romance in a blatant bid to attract a larger queer audience, while all the while having no intention whatsoever of having those hints lead anywhere. the issue, I guess, is that it's not always easy to tell which scenarios are the former, and which are the latter. and of course, you also have people who think that the former is a type of cop-out as well, because the thing is that romance is always viewed as the default. so for a lot of people, allosexual and alloromantic relationships are the only ones that get considered as far as representation goes.

but you know what, I'm just gonna say it; even knowing where people are coming from, it's still discouraging to know that so many people are so dismissive of aro and ace relationships that the thought of a favorite ship not becoming romantic in canon is considered a profound disappointment. and it's even more discouraging that the thought of a rival ship becoming canon is considered such an existential threat to some that they will literally use "oh, they're just like siblings" as an argument against the ship, rather than a point in favor of. because siblings are a downgrade. friendship is a downgrade. any kind of close relationship that isn't inherently romantic or sexual in nature is less important, and that's just how it is.

so yeah, that's kind of a pet peeve, ngl. especially since the truth is I actually do think Bakugou and Deku's relationship is very akin to siblings. and so I do sometimes get weary of not being able to just outright say that without having to first pepper the statement with all kinds of disclaimers so that people don't think I'm invalidating the ship. I feel like I have to walk on eggshells if I ever want to talk about their relationship in terms that I can personally relate to.

but I mean, here's how I look at it. they've known each other since they were small children. they call each other exclusively (or almost exclusively) by childhood nicknames. they have an openness and an unspoken, almost taken-for-granted trust in each other to the point where they'll share closely guarded secrets ("I got my quirk from someone else") and personal vulnerabilities ("why was I the one who ended All Might?") with barely a second's hesitation which they would never share with anyone else. they have a comfortable little bickering type of rapport ("I'm getting stronger"; "well I'll just have to get even stronger then"; "you'll never surpass me"; "we'll see about that") which they can fall into with ease and which looks weird af to outsiders, but is "normal" to them and something they're both grateful to have.

they're so intimately familiar with each other's personality and behaviors that they can predict them with perfect accuracy. they're so in tune with each other that they can whip up elaborate coordinated attacks right on the spot in perfect sync. their admiration for each other is so strong that they each think of the other as being the epitome of winning and saving, respectively. their mental images of each other are so vivid that they subconsciously mimic each other's speech patterns whenever they start falling into a particularly strong Win or Save mindset themselves. they take no small amount of pride in showing off for each other. they go apeshit any time the other is in danger or hurt. and each of them would literally die for the other if it ever came to that.

all of that is already canon. on just about every metric imaginable except for "now kiss", the two of them already have a canon intimacy that rivals just about every other great relationship out there. and so to say that none of it actually counts unless there's an actual love confession involved frankly just boggles me. again, maybe it's because I have no personal vested interest in romance myself, though. I'm literally just not wired that way, and so I'm really not the best person to vent to when it comes to these kinds of concerns.

but look, no matter what happens from here on out, these two care about each other on a very deep and personal level. they're going to continue to be a part of each other's lives no matter what. and each of them, no matter what, will continue to occupy a space in each other's lives that no other person can fill, regardless of how we or Horikoshi or anyone else choose to label and define that space. and so in my book, that's already a win.

anyways, apologies again for the impromptu rant. again, this wasn't particularly directed at you in any way; if anything it's mostly just a generic response to the constant shipping discourse in this and every other fandom, and a more detailed explanation for why I personally don't like to get involved in it. this is just one of the myriad reasons why I try my best to stay very far away from BnHA twitter lol.

[masterthespianduchovny]

The counter argument to people being against Sam/Rebecca for legitimate reasons are claims that Sam is being “infantilized.”

These age gap conversations in general are difficult to have because one side won’t acknowledge that just because two people are adults doesn’t mean they are in the same place emotionally and mentally. And this is a very important thing to note.

Someone being 18, a legal adult in America (I think you can date adults at 16 in the UK), doesn’t mean they are able to date a significantly older person, say 38, without a problem. Because, more times than not, which is an understatement, there’s a lot of fucking problems in an age gap relationship even if the older person isn’t dating the younger for nefarious reasons.

It is not infantilizing Sam or any young adult to say, “hey, this relationship may be detrimental to them because of their age.” That is just…facts.

Many people on tumblr and other SM sites often talk about how they still feel like kids at 22 and are still figuring life at, despite having jobs, kids, and shit. Despite being in full blown relationships, these young adults don’t feel like adults and that’s because you aren’t magically mature just because you’ve reached an arbitrary age to be declared a legal adult.

You just aren’t.

And being mature in one aspect of your life or regarding emotional development doesn’t mean you’re mature in other aspects. At 17, I was mature enough to understand this.

Because maturity isn’t just something you obtain like your degree or license, it’s an ongoing, ever evolving thing.

It’s life experience. As in how you learn and grow from it.

Acknowledging that someone doesn’t have significant life experience isn’t infantilizing them, it’s giving an important perspective to a crowd of who is essentially arguing “age ain’t nothing, but a number.”

If you’re all for an 18 year old dating a 38 year old, why not a 16 year old and a 36 year. It’s only a two year difference, right? And what if that 16 year old is really mature? Most would have an issue with that. People are justifying a significantly older person dating a younger person due to legality and not they are actually mature and on the same level. But there’s not much difference between a 16 and 18 year old or an 18 year old and a 20 year old. But guess what, there is a significant difference between people between the ages of 18-22 dating people a decade or more.

I literally just turned 30 last week and, even when I was 25, after a while I could tell when I was speaking to a teen or someone in their early 20s. Because, whether or not you get along with them, there are just some things that, because they haven’t had enough life experience, they don’t have the nuance or perspective to engage with you a certain way and this is even on a non romantic level.

And, in some cases, the younger person is more “mature” not because they’re actually that mature, but because the older person is that immature.

So before I get into the issues with Sam and Rebecca, let me give you four examples of age gaps relationships:

1. A friend of mine dating an older man when she was 23 and he was 38. She was a manager at a gym and he was a gym member. They would have sex and hang out, but she wanted commitment. Whenever she asked him about it, he’d get weird on her. After finally breaking it off months later, he “loved” her and finally wanted commitment, but she’d moved on. While she dated him, I told her my two cents on the situation and left it alone. Last month, she recalled this conversation as she groaned in displeasure hearing about an age gap relationship. She’s now skeptical of older people dating significantly younger people.

2. A friend of mine was 18 dating a 28 year old. We all worked at a pizzeria. He watched her on the cameras from the back when he became a manager—got mad if she talked to male coworkers. Used to gaslight her, controlled her via manipulation, and other gross toxic shit. After emotionally tormenting her for a year or so and pressuring her to live with him, which her parents allowed due to some issues they didn’t want to exacerbate, he cheated on her. They’re broken up now. She was always stressed out while with him.

3. A girl got into her first and only relationship when she was 19 with a man who was 32. They’re now married 23 and 36. She wants to wait to have kids and on her birthday he gifted her baby clothes. Make of that what you will.

4. A girl, 22, dated her 37 year old professor. At 28, she feels like she’s outgrown him and is disturbed about how and when they got together. And one night she heard him advise his friends to date younger girls so they can mold them. Yeah…

Sure you have marriages that have age gaps that lasted, but even then, very few of those are actually healthy. The younger person is usually taking orders from the older partner, can’t do certain things, doesn’t have any true agency, skills to survive on their own, etc. What typically happens is after that person becomes older, they begin to question their relationship because what seemed okay when they were younger, is unsettling after becoming older.

Like I said, take out the nefarious shit, and there is still a significant life experience gulf between Sam and Rebecca and that is one of the many issues with this pairing. Despite what some romantics and media loves to say, “love does not conquer all.” Most of the marriages that end in divorce isn’t because they couple fell out of love, it’s due to finances. Love couldn’t conquer that. Some marriages end because one of them changed or they could’ve overcome their vast differences.

I’m not saying Sam and Rebecca are on a path for marriage or are even in love, they aren’t, however, they idea that just because they get along and have some things in common means it would be a great relationship is very shortsighted. There isn’t even enough significant interaction to prove this. Getting along on an app isn’t the same as connecting face to face. And none of this can overcome Rebecca’s life experience and, relatively speaking, Sam’s lack thereof.

And I’d argue that, on average, athletes tend to be immature because they live in such a bubble where people constantly kiss their ass. Which makes Sam look more mature than he probably is.

Even then, being with an older person ages you. This younger person misses out on so much, many of which they regret, because they’re trying to be mature enough for their older partner. They don’t want to seen as immature for doing young shit when that’s exactly their age range.

But let’s get into the real consequences for Sam here:

1. Sam has to keep his relationship a secret. The media will tear him up about dating/fucking the owner of the team. And so will fans. People love to mention he’s being infantilized because he’s young and black, how do you think that is going to go if anyone finds out about them? Racism, baby. He won’t suffer from sexism, however, they will question his place on the team and if he deserves to be there. This will taint him and even cause issues with his parents. So secret relationship it is.

2. If his teammates found out, this will fracture his relationship with them. Whether or not it’s true, Sam will be blamed for shit outside of his control. They’ll think he only got more playing time, more pay, or whatever because he’s fucking Rebecca. OR they’ll try to ask him for favors and get upset if he won’t do it. His team will think he’s getting favoritism and believe there is a power imbalance between them and Sam as a result. Don’t believe me, Google dynamics once students realize a classmate is dating their teacher or an employee is dating their boss. It usually doesn’t go over so well.

So even if the relationship is loving and healthy, Sam will suffer from being with Rebecca. Because if it's a secret, it’s going to bother him eventually that they have to sneak around and the anxiety of being caught. If it’s out in the open, he will suffer harassment, alienation, his play will suffer because his teammates probably won’t pass to him, etc.

Which leads to, 3: transferring teams. But how is that fair? Sam is developing well under ted and now that may delay his development and stock just so he can be with Rebecca? We want this young, black man to succeed, but his career will be kneecapped due to his relationship. Sam is serious about football and this would be a major blow to him.

Like I said, take out nefarious shit and this relationship is still detrimental to Sam. And even with a healthy relationship, there will still be a disconnect that will lead to their relationship ending because they are in two vastly different places in their lives.

That is not infantilizing Sam, that’s reality.

And, again, that power imbalance is massive. We saw how easy it was for Rebecca to send Jamie back to Man City. She has so much power, control, and influence over Sam’s career and livelihood. She can dictate how much or how little they offer to pay him during contract negotiations.

And this is the ship people are getting upset at others rightfully taking issue with?

It doesn’t even make sense for Rebecca to go along with this either. She played a part in Keeley breaking up with Jamie, which age, Jamie being younger, played a key part in it. She’s even disgusted by Rupert dating a significantly younger woman. I doubt her opinion centered on maturity. She’s not going to suddenly support this relationship if she found out that Bex is super mature.

Rebecca would stand to lose a lot of she were to get involved with Sam and others found out. She’d get dragged through the mud worse than she did after her divorce. She’s lose them support of her staff. And it would fuck up the relationship she has with her players.

Now some Sam/Rebecca supporters have called bullshit on people who are against this relationship, yet support Ted and Rebecca. They claim it’s the same power imbalance or that one exists.

1. It’s not the same power imbalance.

2. Yes, one does exist, but it’s not nearly as wide as it is with Sam and it wouldn’t destroy her either.

Ted has the authority to hire and fire people. He has the authority to facilitate trades, call up people, and send them down. He has a lot of influence that Sam does not. They aren’t equals, but there also isn’t a massive power disparity either.

Rebecca also can’t completely fuck over Ted like she can Sam if she went all scorned woman. Because, doing so, would entail her own demise. Even if you don’t include that, Ted is only attached to Richmond. He doesn’t care about having a career as a football coach in the ways coaches from non US countries do. He can go back and have a career as an American football coach and still be massively successful. Or, if Rebecca did want to fuck him over, he has that bomb as to why he was hired. Ted doesn’t even have to play that card for it to be played by either Higgins or Keeley.

Because one of them will if they feel it’s necessary.

We have no clue what’s going to happen with this storyline. But the idea that people against Sam and Rebecca being a thing, romantically or sexually, being fueled by racism or sexism is misguided, hypocritical, and flat out wrong. If this entanglement is pursued, it stands to harm Sam from various angles and that’s MY objection.

People think this is all about Ted/Rebecca when, personally, I’d lose (some) respect for Rebecca if she got involved with Sam. That would taint her for me. Because let’s be real, many of us are grossed out by Rupert dating, marrying, and then impregnating Bex. Yet, some are okay with Rebecca and Sam getting together and those who are against it are sexist? And I truly believe the same people supporting this ship are also grossed out by Rupert’s relationship.

How is Rupert’s relationship gross, but we shouldn’t obsess over age with Rebecca and Sam? People say Sam is mature enough to date Rebecca, which implies that Bex isn’t mature enough to be with Rupert and that IS sexist.

Even if the writers confirm tomorrow that Ted/Rebecca will never be a thing, I wouldn’t object any less to Sam/Rebecca. If Sam was Roy’s age and in Roy’s position, I’d have way less of an issue.

But you’re going to have a tough time convincing me that a young man who is 20/21 and employed by a 47 year woman who can heavily influence his career isn’t a massive power imbalance that shouldn’t be explored by fans.

I’m really curious to see how this post ages once the storyline plays out. But this post is about exploring what it means for Sam and Rebecca to get involved and how the accusations of infantilizing Sam doesn’t pass the sniff test.

[literatigifs]

anonymous asked: A lot of fans claim that writers dumbed down Dean's character in S2-3 in favor of Jess. That he was smart and well read and they changed it because books were Jess's thing? Do you think it's true?

I don't think so cause I never got the feeling that Dean actually liked reading, he did it just to please Rory and once they were out of their honeymoon phase he stopped putting in effort to seem like he was interested in reading. Also he didn't even value Rory's love for books. He liked it because she 'looked' cute and it was 'amusing' for him how much she loved books (the encyclopedia thing at their anniversary dinner??)

I'm sorry for answering this a day late but yeah, I don't really agree that Dean's character was changed or dumbed down for Jess either. My main opinion on this is that a lot of people buy into the narrative's skewed perception of Dean and how he's the 'losing' party here because Rory has started to have feelings for someone else, and considering how Dean's life doesn't get any better throughout the entirety of the original show's runtime, I guess they're inclined to feel sorry for him and in turn throw out their frustrations at Rory for daring to find herself in a weird situation when she's.......a literal teenager and Dean was her first ever boyfriend and try at a relationship in her life by the time she meets Jess.

Dean was never dumbed down or changed for Jess, the only thing that changed was that unlike Tristan, who only saw Rory in school and didn't live in Stars Hollow, Jess was nearby and he was a guy who wasn't really scared of Dean's "big threatening guy" act he would always pull whenever some other guy took interest in Rory at his expense. Now, I don't consider Jess's behavior to have been "proper" towards Dean but the biggest issue with Dean's personality, that we see in season 1 and then season 2 before Jess even comes to town, is that he always takes to lashing out at Rory for the antics that the guys that are interested in her pull. Take for example how he reacted constantly to Tristan and how in the S1 finale, he took to being angry at Rory for Tristan just.....holding her books while they're both at school. Or the entire episode where Rory kept panicking and begging Tristan to not tell Dean about their kiss when 1) Tristan is the one who made the move to kiss her, not Rory, and 2) Dean had broken up with her before this. In spite of these facts that would render that kiss harmless, Rory knew that Dean would lash out over it, so she kept trying to make sure it stayed a secret between her and Tristan.

The same argument can be said over the books thing, as you mentioned. Dean's interest in books even in the Pilot is never on the same level as it is with Jess. You mainly see Dean take any interest in reading literary classics solely because Rory encourages him to or Rory talks to him about them, but outside of him reading books because of her (and might I add, books that he didn't even particularly like or take to), we never see him even be that studious. I feel like there's something that can be said about how Dean particularly loses further interest in trying out reading as a hobby after he and Rory break up the first time in season 1 (especially since we later see him be so insecure over their relationship and in season 3 even allude to breaking up once Rory leaves for Harvard), but even before that, Dean's interest in books was only because he was dating Rory. You can't even argue that he was this particularly smart guy who could catch literary references and discuss serious topics with Rory when....we never saw them do this in season 1. The most we saw of Dean talking about books was him recommending Hunter Thompson and complaining about Tolstoy. In comparison, Jess's interest in books is a constant thing that isn't even on Dean's mediocre level of interest in literature, so it's even less of a reason to think that somehow, they 'took' this characteristic from Dean because it was Jess's "thing". And also, Rory and Jess don't just bond over books, they bond over music, they talked about various other things and they joked around like teenagers.

[thievinghippo]

Fic Update: Abstract (3/12)

Fandom: Mass Effect

Pairing: Garrus/Shepard

Rating: Teen

Summary: A study on Garrus and Shepard’s relationship, from introduction to conclusion, featuring arguments for and against.

Notes: So not many people realize there’s a different way to end the original reach/flexibility talk. This is how Sonya does things. :D

(Read on Ao3!)

#

Thesis Statement - Shepard

What the hell just happened?

The moment the battery doors shut behind her, Shepard leans against a sleeper pod, trying to realign her world. She was this close - this close - to saying something back there, to actually bringing up the idea of the two of them together. Stress relief. He brought up stress relief. Oh what she would give to relieve her stress with Garrus. But what does she do? Instead of seizing the insanely large opening he gave her, she simply said,

“Thanks for the talk, Garrus.”

Thanks for the talk.

As if it were any normal conversation, as if Garrus hadn’t brought up stress-relief, as if she didn’t want him. As if it didn’t increasingly look like he might want her as well. Stress relief. She’s read enough issues of Fornax to know what that means to a turian.

Taking a deep breath, Shepard runs her hand over shaved head. She hadn’t realized how much her crush back from their days of chasing Saren had grown. But there it was, practically hitting her in the face. But what if she’s wrong? She is only human, after all. What if he simply brought up stress relief because he literally is stressed? A turian on a Cerberus ship, full of humans who would rather him be anywhere but their fancy new ship. It can’t be easy. And they’ve never really talked about it, beyond him saying You realize this plan has me walking into hell, too? She’s charging there, full-throttle, and instead of kicking and screaming, he’s walking right by her side.

Shepard?

Hearing her name makes her jump, makes her feel like a raw recruit, like she has something to hide. She doesn’t like to be startled. “Yes, EDI?”

Your heart rate has been above your normal baseline since you left the main battery. Perhaps you should go to the medical facilities.

“Ha,” Shepard says with a weak laugh. If EDI knew her heart rate was elevated, no doubt - no doubt - Garrus saw her heart beat had been elevated, too. That visor really does give him an unfair advantage. “Nothing’s wrong, EDI. Just horny and thinking too much.” She closes her eyes, hardly believing she just admitted that to the AI. “Please don’t share that with Miranda.”

Your statement will remain confidential.

Relief, sweet, beautiful relief, courses through her. She really needs to not be so open when she’s talking to EDI. Anything she says to EDI is generally fair game to Miranda. And anything fair game to Miranda has potential to make its way back to The Illusive Man. Shepard needs to cover her mouth to keep herself from laughing at the thought of Miranda and The Illusive Man discussing her sex life. Or lack there of, really.

Now that she thinks of it, how long had it been since she’d gotten laid? A few weeks after Saren’s defeat, she remembers, thinking of the artist from Kenya she met on the Citadel. Over the years she’s learned to look outside the military for one-night stands. But Garrus isn’t Alliance…

And she’s not looking for a one-night stand.

It’s been years since she was last in a relationship, not since Calyn, and to say that ended poorly was an understatement. But that was on Shepard, not Calyn, thanks to the stress after the attack on Akuze. What if something were to happen between her and Garrus? What if the suicide mission goes just as sideways as Akuze? Can she go through that again? Shepard already knows the answer. If it does, she’ll survive. She doesn’t have any other choice.

The potential for more is right there, like a current underneath her skin. More. She’ll want to delve into that, figure out exactly why it’s so appealing, but not when she’s standing right outside the battery. Shepard stuffs her hands into the pockets of her trousers and walks down the ramp, into the common area. The cafeteria tables are mercifully empty, but Gardner is leaning after the counter of the small kitchen, staring out into space.

Thankfully, her rounds are finished, giving her a bit of free time before her meeting with Miranda to discuss the upcoming mission to Alchera. Her squad aren’t the only ones with ghosts. Hopefully this will give her some sort of sense of peace before heading to the Thorne system to search and recover the dead Reaper IFF.

However, that meeting is absolutely the last thing Shepard wants to do.

Walking as softly as she can, so not to disturb Gardner or catch Chakwas’s attention, Shepard heads to the elevator. Some time alone in her quarters is exactly what she needs. Somehow, she makes it to the elevator without anyone stopping her. And better still, the elevator didn’t stop at the CIC floor, going directly to her cabin. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think luck might actually be on her side for one. Of course, that’s when she’d spend any spare luck. On an elevator. Instead of when she might actually need it. Like on the suicide mission.

Her cabin is always a few degrees cooler than the rest of the ship and right now, she’s exceedingly grateful for that fact, even after unbuttoning the collar of her uniform. “It could work,” she whispers to herself, walking down the stairs. Back on the SR-1, it never would have. He put her too much on a pedestal back then, but dying seemed to change all that. She might be leading the mission, but as far as Shepard’s concerned, they’re equals, in all things.

Shepard’s always been a fan of making lists, and this seems like a perfect opportunity. “I trust him,” she says out loud. Trusts him more than anyone else at this point. There is no one more in the galaxy she would rather have at her six than him. That has to mean something, right?

“He makes me laugh.” Definitely another point in his favor. Just the fact that they can joke around together means everything on this ship.

She flops down on the bed, wondering what it might be like to have him on top of her, moving inside her. She’s never been with an alien before, never really thought about it. But it doesn’t matter. He’s Garrus. He could be a hanar or a volus and she’d still want to share this with him, because it’s him.

And he might be interested. In her. Assuming she’s read his cues right.

Hopefully someday soon, he’ll give her the chance to let him know that she might be interested, too.

[racefortheironthrone]

Thoughts on Powers of X #5

Didn’t quite catch up to Hickman, but I’m still going to get this done!

Can It Be Done?

Let me say off the bat that I think this is definitely the weakest of the HoX/PoX issues I’ve covered to date, although I still think there’s some useful stuff to be mined from here.

Starting with Xavier’s meeting with Forge: Hickman said in an interview that Forge being in his 90s X-uniform was an error, which suggests that this scene is supposed to depict Forge in his popped collar/short-shorts look before he joins the X-Men, which would make sense what with the meeting happening at his Dallas holographic house. (Although Xavier being in his X-movies wheelchair confuses the timeline some.)

Moving on from that, the bulk of their conversation revolves around the logistics of a fifth-generation Cerebro unit - which given that the specs we get later are for the seventh generation, makes me wonder what happened to the sixth.

Xavier claims that the first iteration was “solely my design” but that versions two through four were “Henry McCoy’s doing.” Is he hiding Moira’s involvement here?

We learn that the shift in primary function from location to copying didn’t happen until the fifth generation, which should give us a rough cutoff of how far back resurrections can go.

Forge identifies three key issues: storage, power, (namely, that they would need “an unlimited power source and unlimited storage”) and redundancy. More on this when we get to the infographic.

Xavier wanting five-fold redundancy is another example of five being a recurring number in HoXPox.

The solution to Forge’s issues turns out to be a combination of mutant technology and Shi’ar technology (notably antimatter engines and logic crystals...more on that in a bit), which Xavier seems quite smug about. Presumably this is due to his relationship with Lilandra - a lot of X-tech from the early 90s used “Shi’ar” as their technobabble of choice - but, given what we learned about Shi’ar in Moira’s Ninth Life using mutants as imperial subalterns, I wonder what their broader political interest is.

On a more general note, Xavier is being really manipulative throughout this discussion, but he barely needs to be, because Forge is always going to go for the technical challenge of pulling this off than the broader ethical questions of whether they should.

Cerebro Infographic:

Here, we learn that the current version of Cerebro is Version 7.0 - so at least two major updates beyond what Xavier and Forge were discussing.

The two main differences seem to be that, A. the new system is portable (hence why Xavier is always wearing it in HoX), and B. it no longer relies on Shi’ar power in favor of a Krakoan No-Space vent. This suggests a concerted effort to ground the new Krakoan culture on mutant technology without relying on outside sources (even allied ones).

Speaking of my earlier thinking about Krakoan biomachinery and cultural heroes, Forge will probably go down in the mutant history books for starting the Krakoan scientific revolution and directing it down firmly biological rather than mechanical lines. 

A sign of how sci-fi this all could get is that he’s accomplished the astonishing feat of harnessing a “Krakoan No-[Space] Vent” to provide “an unlimited power source for mutants living on the island,” even before the revolution begins. At the same time, if my hunch about where the power is coming from is correct, it might not be the best idea to use literal hellfire to fuel the engines of your new society.

One sign that Krakoa isn’t at technological autarky yet is that they’re still reliant on “Shi’ar logic diamonds” as the “primary choice for data storage.” This raises two interesting questions: first, who has possession of the digitized Sinister database? And second, is this the technology that Doctor Gregor seems to have gotten her hands on in X-Men #1?

As with The Five, this infographic sets up story hooks by establishing points of vulnerability: the system requires a weekly three-hour backup and a yearly hard backup “during which the process cannot be interrupted and Xavier cannot be disturbed.” This creates opportunities for things to go haywire while Xavier is looking the other way.

There’s a bit more on the issue of downloading the wrong mind into the wrong body, although here there’s more of a suggestion that it would usually be fatal...unless you have a mutation that would allow you to survive. Dunno what kind you’d need tho.

We also learn that skilled telepaths can replace their own minds with previous versions (presumably outside of the resurrection process)...and that Xavier’s done it twice. When he did that is an interesting question, because there have been a couple instances in which Xavier has had to switch bodies, which may have prompted his downloading.

Finally, we learn that the backup locations are really spread out: one’s on Krakoa Pacific, one’s on Krakoa Atlantic, one’s on Octopusheim, one’s on the Mind, and one’s with Moira in No-Space. So definitely trying to spread this system out so that it can’t be easily destroyed.

For the Children:

Finally for the best part of the issue, Emma’s recruitment scene. As befits Emma’s personal idiom, the meeting takes place at the Louvre, as Emma contemplates the Winged Victory of Samothrace. An omen of victory or of the glory of a lost civilization? 

Charles’ three-piece-suit and Cerebro is suprisingly dapper. 

Speaking of Hickman and character voice, Emma Frost is clearly a character that Hickman just gets on a bone-deep level, and despite all the claims that HoXPoX is all exposition and no character work, this scene really is a tour de force for the woman that Emma Frost has become since New X-Men.

Notably, Emma Frost is here to ask some of the big meta-questions in her usual acid-tongued way: is the Krakoan project “heroic” or “reckless” or “both”?

We can see from the jump that Charles is interested in “the Hellfire Corporation” as “an international prime mover;” he wants Emma as the lynchpin of his economic/geopolitical blackmail system.

In order to get Emma - who’s still pissed about what happened with Genosha, as she has every right to be - to sign on the dotted line, Xavier needs Magneto to make the argument that only he can make about this being the opportunity to “make right all the things that went wrong” by using the resurrection system to reverse the genocide.

This is where I start to wonder about Sinister and timeline issues - Magneto talks about getting mutant populations from 198 to 100,000 to 2 million in the space of a year as being “woefully behind” schedule, which makes me think that Xavier and Magneto were primarily concerned with getting their system not only active but in mass production before ORCHIS or anyone else could stop them.

Emma asks the meta-question, “what’s going to make it different this time?” And we don’t really get an answer - beyond showing us the sweeping vistas of Krakoa, we don’t really learn what Emma saw that convinced her this could work, although we do get the more important character beat that explains that Emma gets on board “one more time, then, for the children.” At her core, Emma Frost is a teacher who will fight for the next generation of mutants.

At the same time, it’s not like she doesn’t like money...so the new Hellfire Trading Company will handle the international distribution of Krakoan wonder drugs with a fifty year monopoly giving them a quite lucrative world-wide market all to themselves. I will have a lot more to say about mutant economic policy in the future, let me assure you. 

Interestingly, Xavier considers the “real matter at hand” to be getting the Hellfire Corporation representation on the Quiet Council (most likely out of an enlightened self-interest basis that you don’t really want that kind of mutant socio-economic power on the outside of the tent pissing in when they could instead be given a stake in Krakoa. It’s all very Hamiltonian.

I love the reaction shot when Emma learns that they want to bring Sebastian Shaw back from the dead to “run the black-book operations into countries who reject our sovereignty.” My guess is that Xavier and Magneto look at it as Shaw being a disposable and deniable asset who they could easily throw to the wolves if they get caught drug/mutant-smuggling. We had no idea, rogue actor, will face Krakoan justice, etc.

Finally, we get some good setup for the upcoming Marauders #1: Emma wants a third seat for Kitty Pryde (no matter what the actual title is), whose job it will be to “get the drugs in, get the mutants out.” Speaking of geopolitics...it surely didn’t escape people’s attention how many of the non-friendly nations had coastlines?

Quiet Council of Krakoa:

I don’t really want to spend any time discussing the Quiet Council here, because we get the reveal in the next issue. This is one of the few times where the whole delayed reveal through redacted infographic thing just did not work. 

Hhowever, we do get a sense of future political conflict with “there is some debate as to whether this council will continue in perpetuity or if some other system of government will replace it.”

Xavier Reaches Out:

This is a bit more interesting: here we see the other speech that Xavier gave, the one that went out to mutants rather than humans. (Somewhat annoyed that we don’t have a clearer timeline on this.) As we might expect, Xavier leans heavily on the unity message: “now is the time to put aside all differences and realize we are one people.”

And we see the “invitation” being extended to any number of groups that Xavier has had issues with in the past: Exodus and the Acolytes, Mister Sinister (who’s killed off the other SInisters and walked off with the database...I guess because Xavier’s message set off the psychic “reminder”), Omega Red (who we haven’t seen much of), and Gorgon (only slightly more).

But the meat of this is Namor, who’s the only one actually having a conversation with Xavier. Namor comes off very Nietzschean, implictly describing himself as one of “those beyond” good and evil, and arguing that anti-mutant bigotry ultimately stems from ressentiment. 

At the same time, Namor’s reason for rejecting Xavier’s offer raises the question of whether Moira fully “broke” Xavier of his original philosophy. 

In the Year One Thousand...

Ah yes, X^3. In retrospect, a lot of this could have been more compressed, if that wouldn’t undermine the six-part structure.

Here we really get into the ambiguity of ascension: in order to “ascend,” homo novissima have to divorce their minds from their flesh - only their minds will be saved, while all that lives will be destroyed in fire and lightning. It’s very Gnostic, if you think about it.

Nimrod really goes into Exposition Mode to lay out what Hickman is getting at:

emphasizing how all of these scales end up suggesting an endless ladder of “self-improving, self-replicating machines" - it’s turtles all the way up and all the way down.

Kirbons is a nice touch.

I’ll get into Titan theory come the infographic, but I’ll reiterate that these intelligences don’t seem to be acting very intelligently: “we reached beyond ourselves to to build a world-mind and attract a...protector...instead we attracted a predator.” Predation and consumption sounds way more Jack London nature-red-in-tooth-and-claw.

Types of Societies Infographic:

Titans being “isolationist” is a bad sign, until you realize the alternative.

When Hickman talks about a “Type O” on the Kardashev Scale, I think he’s referring to a “Type Omega-minus” (a civilization that can control “the basic structure of space and time”), since a Type Zero civilization isn’t nearly advanced enough to fit this group.

Strongholds aren’t isolationist but “warring factions seeking to actively destroy or absorb other Strongholds in order to achieve Dominion status...expansion and conquest are the altar at which Strongholds worship.” Two rungs higher than the Phalanx, and we’re still talking about imperialism...

Only with the Dominion are we told (not shown) a civilization that’s truly godlike. The fact that they feel threatened by the Phoenix is definitely going to come back; Hickman loved playing around with Galactus on his FF run, so I can’t imagine he wouldn’t want to take a swing at the purple guy’s opposite number.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Honestly, my biggest problem with the Aftran infestation plot is the Natural Morphing resolution to Cassie going Nothlit is uh... weak is the kind word for it.

To quote a writing buddy:

Some fans… approach stories in terms of what would be most ‘logical’ for one character to do in a story… Which not only misunderstands the whole need for characters with different points of view within storytelling, but that getting into these nonsense-logic debates belies the deeper intent and functionality of storytelling itself.

Because there is literally no point to approach the ‘bad logic’ of a given story choice like you think you are fixing flaws of a film. Instead, you are literally erasing conflict from the movie. The obvious problem there is that the entire damn point of a movie is to create conflict. We want stories that get at the heart of strife between two people, and through the dramatization of that conflict, will say something about the human condition. But in the humane desire for an audience member to seek resolution to that same conflict (which I think speaks to the power that stories have upon people), they will often subconsciously try to resolve it with an outside-the-box practical decision that reflects their own brain, over the logic of the drama itself.

I guess what I’m trying to say with that quote: it’s not necessarily logical for the story to function that way, but the goal of the story was never to be logical.

K.A. Applegate isn’t writing a rhetoric and rationality manual.  She’s a) trying to tell a complex story about enemies coming to realize they have common ground, b) making a point about the messy nuances of privilege and the fact that lack of privilege doesn’t give one the right to hurt others, c) trying to entertain readers as young as eight, d) building an emotional arc for six main characters and a handful of supporting characters, and e) trying to educate children about animals.  That last one is actually the motivation Applegate herself sites for writing the Animorphs series in the first place and (I’d argue) one of the strongest aspects of the series, that she manages to make nonsensical morphing into these very real-feeling experiences.

Is it “logical” for Rachel to be allergic to crocodile DNA?  Of course not.  Does the scene with Rachel involuntarily turning into an elephant and nearly crushing Sarah to death feel utterly, horrifyingly, nightmare-inducingly real anyway?  At least to me it does.

Sure, I agree with you that authors’ Rules of Applied Phlebotinum should be internally consistent.  That said, I also feel like pushing the envelope a little to achieve a desired effect is perfectly fine, because Charles Dickens constantly gets away with much, much worse.  The ends have to justify the means, but I think that they do in this case.

To explain what I mean: in my utterly uninformed opinion, the moment in #1 where Tobias “hears” Jake’s thoughts while Jake isn’t in morph is kind of a frustrating error.  It doesn’t advance the plot, it doesn’t get an in-universe justification, it doesn’t achieve a character or setting effect, and it’s not cool or otherwise emotionally evocative.

HOWEVER, the moment in MM2 where Tobias tries and fails to morph in order to fix a broken wing is a little annoying but I’m willing to overlook it.  The crisis of Tobias being injured and alone with Rachel achieves several effects:

It forces the decision that Rachel could just morph and fly off in search of the others, but that she is entirely unwilling to leave Tobias mostly-helpless and alone to do so.  It draws attention to the fact that Tobias is new at morphing, and self-conscious about that fact.  It helps set up the Big Honking Character Moment at the end of the book through showing that Tobias is a much tougher person, willing to make much bigger sacrifices, than that soft-skinned starry-eyed kid we saw in the first book.  It causes Rachel and Tobias to confess their feelings for each other, which at that point in the series they’ve yet to do.  It allows Rachel (and by extension the reader) access Tobias’s dinosaur knowledge while denying the rest of the team that knowledge, creating some great moments of dramatic irony.  It highlights Tobias’s dual identity, that he is more willing to navigate a strange environment as an injured bird than as an uninjured human.  It separates the group, thereby setting up the same conflict that each Megamorphs book faces: a reduced team deciding under desperate and unfamiliar circumstances just how far they’re willing to go to survive.  It’s one of the forces that drives Rachel and Tobias together as a couple.

Does that moment still bug me, in that I wish Applegate had found a different way to achieve the same effect?  Yeah, a little.

Anyway, that moment with Cassie not becoming a butterfly forever and ever:

Allows Cassie to demonstrate that she is Committed As Fuck to this deal with Aftran, in that she actually goes through with the nothlit thing.

Justifies Aftran’s own heel-face turn, because it calls BS on Aftran’s “even death is preferable to life without a host” argument.

Keeps Cassie in the narrative in spite of her becoming a nothlit, without resorting to an attempt to explain how she could also do a favor for the Ellimist while stuck as a butterfly and then regain her morphing but be a semi-permanent butterfly…

Presents one of the stranger realities of nature — that little worm-things make shells, crawl into those shells after shedding their skin a quadrillion times, dissolve into goo, and pop out with completely different morphology — in a way that actually incorporates it into the drama of the story, in contrast to all those children’s books with characters droning straight at the reader about The Life Cycle of the Butterfly.

Foreshadows not only Aftran’s eventual fate but that of all the yeerks — Aftran might have been born a little worm-thing, but that doesn’t mean she can’t transform and achieve nearly infinite potential without needing a host to do so.

Grounds Cassie within her team through showing that she and Marco especially might be at odds a lot of the time, but that all five of her friends would be devastated if she could no longer be in their lives.

Affirms Cassie’s connection to her parents as well, amidst the ongoing narrative of her becoming so adult that she views them almost as children she must protect, through forcing her to be separate from them for a few weeks.

Gives the book directly before the David trilogy a happy ending, a much-needed uplift just before the horror to come.

Conveys a really important message about how doing the right thing is often hideously difficult.

And shows that doing the right thing is usually more about making a commitment to something and then following through no matter how difficult it becomes, less about throwing oneself in front of buses to save innocent children.

And gets into the gritty details of there being consequences to doing the right thing, not just adults coming in at the end of the adventure to pat one on the head for a job well done.

And forces the issue of The Right Thing sometimes being the thing that hurts a hell of a lot, when it’s not just a matter of destroying the ring you happen to like also destroying the whole army of orcs.

Does not end the book with Cassie stuck as a bug forever, using an excuse based in nature itself, thereby fitting well with the motif of the series as a whole that nature is disturbingly powerful.

Anywhoo, I’m not sure what K.A. Applegate could have done differently under the circumstances to achieve the desired result.  Maybe it’s “weak” to assume that a naturally-occurring metamorphosis process could derail the limits of a technological reality like morphing.  But this is a book series with shapeshifting, time travel, alien invaders, and New Yorkers still having landlines in 2009, for cryin’ out loud.  I think it’s entitled to a little illogic in order to achieve a desired plot-character-setting-emotional arc effect.

[coffee-for-himchan]

Open The Door, Baby (Zelo) // “With You” series, pt.6

Sixth part of the winter-themed 6 scenario series called “With You”. Featuring a broken promise, and arguments caused by stress and worn out emotions. As well as freezing outside when he wasn’t allowed to come in.

Summary: He had promised to come. You had turned everyone else down, you had made time for him, made plans.. And he carelessly cancelled. He told you off and left you alone, not giving it a second thought. And after he’d realized his mistake, it was seemingly too late - less than 24 hours left until the 24th, and half the planet, trust issues and two broken hearts in between you two. And a door.

(A/N) Last (and imo the most or second most emotional) part of this series! Thank you to everyone who read the series, and I want to say I had a great time writing these!

Part 1 (Himchan) // Part 2 (Yongguk) // Part 3 (Jongup) // Part 4 (Daehyun) // Part 5 (Youngjae) // Part 6 (Junhong)

He stumbled along the familiar streets, suitcase in hand and a mind full of worries. There was no guarantee of you being home, yet he hoped you were.

You'd stated a thousand times you didn't have anyone to spend this day with. Anyone besides him, that is, and he had messed it all up. 

He recalled the recent phone conversations that came about at the worst possible times. He had been irritated out of his mind previously to one of those, and only afterwards figured he might've sounded too harsh while talking to you.

"Are you coming home for Christmas?"

He knew you meant him coming to you, because a past time favorite of his had been calling you his home. And the cheer in your voice could be sensed from miles away - from half the world away, in fact. Because that's exactly how much distance parted you.

"Yes, I believe we'll get some free days here. I'll go to see family then," he said in a harsher tone, taking it literally despite knowing you meant something else.

And with that, you didn't mention it that evening anymore. You didn't mention anything at all, in fact. Another two minutes of non-triggering conversation, and you hung the phone up, telling him you had things to do. Things that, in reality, didn't exist - you simply didn't want to pick a fight with him, which his irritation was ultimately leading to.

And the next time he questioned about it, he figured he had messed up big time.

"How's it back home?" he chuckled as he heard your "hi" on the other end of the line seconds ago, and awaited the regular. "Thanks, I'm fine", "Good, now that you called" or anything else that was extremely cheesy. Yet he only heard a quiet, "I don't know, I'm not at your home. But you can always go and check yourself," in return.

This had ultimately lead to a series of arguments. A series of fights he wanted to forget now as his feet and lungs screamed at him to give him some rest, yet he refused to let them get it as he ran further down the street, snowflakes awkwardly tangling in his hair and his widely open long coat not doing it's job of warming him properly.

He still had miles to run. And about twenty minutes left.

"But you promised you'd come."

Had he? Hell, life had been so hectic he couldn't remember promising it. He could barely spare you any thoughts at all. And in his exhausted state, he thought it was alright. He thought it was alright to forget about you for weeks.

"Had I?"

"Yes, you have. You've been babbling about it non-stop since two months ago.”

Ah, yes. Now he recalled the conversation that had started it all. That facetime when he'd sat on the kitchen floor for a whole three hours, simply talking to you because you priority when it came to choosing over talking to you and sleeping. And he’d promised a bunch of stuff he didn't intend to do anymore.

"I don't remember," he said casually, unaware of your already brimming tears that threatened to spill at every given moment.

".. Junhong-ah."

He was listening non-carefully, and when only beeps could be heard on the other end of the line, he figured he might've heard your final words to him wrong.

"You don't care anymore, Junhong-ah, do you?"

Did he?

He remembered telling the guys how he would go see family on the holidays, and remembered getting curious and puzzled stares.

"Will (Y/N) fly here as well?"

"Not really.. We're spending Christmas apart," he answered, earning even more confused stares.

"Why are you all looking at me so weird-"

"I thought you promised her to go and visit. Like ten times at least, or so I heard. And by the looks of it, she was really looking forwards to it.."

His mother told him the same.

"But weren't you going to see (Y/N)?" she asked, and made his blood boil a little. What did she know? She hadn't even seen you in real life at all, yet had always been supportive of your relationship with Junhong because of how fondly he always talked about you, and how nice you came off as in video chats and phone conversations.

"Am I not allowed to stay home for once? I am tired of flying here and there all the time, spending so much time away from here," he pouted, and it was understandable. Yet everyone around him told him he should've taken a different approach to the situation.

Especially Daehyun, after he had overheard one of your last phone conversations in the practice room.

"Okay, you win," Junhong said in an annoyed tone, sitting in the practice room floor and having you on video chat, the phone on full volume as he hadn't noticed his hyung peeking from out of the door and thought he was all by himself.

"I win what?"

"I guess I'm coming to see you," he said and waved it off immediately,  his annoyance and how blankly and emotionless he said it making your smile turn sloppy, and eventually disappear as a whole.

"It's not like you have to-"

"Oh no, don't even intend to start with this. I really wanted to stay here, but everyone keeps bugging me to go because I've promised and not fulfilling my promises apparently makes me look like an asshole," he talked calmly about this, and even for Daehyun with his non-20/20 vision it wasn't hard to see tears brimming at your eyes from the distance he was at.

"And I am so tired of these accusations, god. I figured I'd just go so they'll stay silent and I’ll get my much needed home alone time later-"

"Get fucking lost."

He looked taken aback, and furrowed his eyebrows at the phone screen.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Get. Fucking. Lost. Don't even dare flying here, because I won't let you in and you'll be able to experience the wonderful feeling of freezing out in the streets alone-"

"Could you not swear at me-"

"Could you not interrupt!?" he saw the tears now, and was a little taken aback by how he had been blind to them previously. But in all honesty, he hadn't even been looking at the screen this whole time. He'd been tying his shoelaces and staring off into the distance instead.

"You don't have to do me a favor by coming by. You don't have to come and ruin the already ruined holidays with your presence. It's not like I cancelled on my family vacation because I thought you would come by, and we could spend some time together. It’s not like I put you first because I missed you more than anyone, and turned so many important people down to hopefully see you smile at me when you arrive, because you’d missed me just as much-"

"Jeez, stop this. I've already agreed to do as you desired, so stop screeching at me and accept it. I’ll try to smile in return too, if you want it-"

"Don you dare show up at my door. You don't care about me anymore," and with that, you cut the conversation short, disconnecting and leaving him to sit seemingly alone.

"Oh, hey Daehyun hyung," Junhong greeted calmly as Daehyun came into the room, walking past to get his phone that he'd left on the table which was what he originally came to do.

"Shut it," he answered just as calmly, making Junhong sigh in irritation.

"What did I do to you now, hmm? Why is everyone being so mean and irritated, and directing it all towards me-"

"You really are an asshole, you know?" Daehyun stopped in front of him, giving him a harsh glance, "I don't know what had come over you recently. You really used to be the sweetest, but now your non-grown up brain had seemingly decided that it would be cool to play mean and ignore and offend all who matter the most-"

"If you're talking about (Y/N), cut it. She's been causing enough issues around here lately."

Daehyun stared in disbelief, and his hands that he'd clenched into fists made it seem as if he was ready to give a reassuring, hard hit to Junhong's face.

"You're the real issue here," he leaned in, and spat it into his face, "You're the one tearing her beautiful hear apart. She's giving you all she has, and you're being nothing but a cause of tears. You don’t deserve her."

And with that, not paying attention to any of Junhong's accusations and remarks he spat in return, he left, closing the door after himself with a loud thud.

That evening Daehyun considered a lot, and figured it was alright to call you, since you were close friends.

"Hey, sweetheart," he cooed in his most melodic voice as he saw your almost dried up tears on his phone screen. "Almost" being the keyword.

"(Y/N), don't cry over it-"

"But, like, what am I supposed to do instead?" you kept sniffing, and he got comfortable on his bed, preparing for a rather long conversation.

"I don't know why he's being this way," Daehyun said calmly and reassuringly, seeing as he had all of your attention wrapped around his finger, "But, just for your info, you're not the only one he's been talking to this way. All of us seem to be of some type of blame in his eyes, and we have no clue what triggered it and how to revert him back to normal."

"But, like.." he saw you trying to collect your words in between quiet sobs, and waited patiently, "I-i.. I'm t-trying hard to s-show him I care, b-but.. I don't know. He k-keeps pushing me away recently, and.."

".. To be honest, I'm j-just waiting for him to break things o-off with me already. B-because I love him too much do so it m-myself, but I'm t-tired of his on and off mood and tired of b-being the one to blame for his s-swinging mood and misfortunes."

And despite his heart clenching, Daehyun understood it all too good. There was no need to stay in a toxic relationship, as it didn't bring what a relationship was supposed to bring - happiness and a feeling of support. It only brought pain and self-loathing.

It was still a week till Christmas, and during all of B.A.P's promotions - the shows, the interviews and everything - only then they could be seen as the cheerful and happy six-piece that they originally were. After the cameras and lights were off though, they quickly turned to be “five plus one add-on” that didn’t really fit, partially because he didn’t want to, and partially because the other five gave him silent treatment.

"I won't go to schedules if you keep treating me this way," Junhong threatened, genuinely aware his absence will decrease their stage performance and presence, and might even put a hole in the interviews.

"Then don't," he stared in disbelief at Youngjae's answer, and was at loss of words, "You're not irreplaceable. We can do without you for a while."

He knew his hyungs loved him. They had practically raised and shaped him, but now, for some reason, they were all turning away from him, acting cold and ignoring him. And he suddenly noticed how hard it was to manage like that.

"What have I done to get treated this way?" he asked Bang in a rather frustrated tone once, and only regretted his manner of talking and his wording when he saw Bang's stern face.

"You get what you ask for," he simply answered, and passed by.

Did he really get what he had bargained for?

Junhong came home that day, kicking off his shoes and falling back in his bed. Mochii was the only one to greet him properly, and he smiled at the little dog cuddling up to him and demanding to be pet.

"At least you don't hate me," he chuckled and laid there, considering of what to do.

After all that had happened, he felt so.. So alone. And he really felt like he needed company now beyond anytime else, yet there he was. Abandoned by all but his dog, as he'd seemingly hurt everyone.

And at that moment, he wanted to call you.

He wanted to hear your cheerful voice on the other end of the line, telling him all would eventually be fine. Telling him that whatever he was going through, you were there for him. And would always be.

Yet when he recalled your recent arguments, he stopped before he'd fully taken his phone out of his pocket. You wouldn't talk to him either now, so he discarded of the idea, and simply lied there in hopes of falling asleep, yet his mind was against him as well. Running circles and only letting him sleep when it was 5 AM already, still dressed in the clothes he'd gone out in and not even covered by a blanket.

Days kept passing like a countdown, and with every day it seemed to be harder and harder to manage. He'd cut back on the careless and meaningless replies, and his teammates had softened up to him a little actually. All aside Daehyun.

"Who's the person you want to be most like, out of you?" was a question in an interview once, and after pointing to one another and laughing it out, Daehyun opened his mouth once more.

"I know that out of five, I would least want to be Junhong."

"Why so?" the interviewer chuckled, and Junhong's life flashed in front of his eyes. Whatever Daehyun had to say, it wasn't going to be good.

"He has this habit of acting truly mean and harmful at times. We don't know what triggers it, but he suddenly becomes very egoistic and hurts people by it," he chuckled, and Junhong was taken aback when the rest chuckled too. Not defending him and simply agreeing.

"No, I'm not-"

"Should I remind you? Or should I do it off-broadcast, maybe?" Daehyun suddenly snapped at him, and to save the happy aura and conversation, Youngjae threw in a lame joke, making everyone direct their attention to him rather than to Daehyun and laugh it off.

Yet Daehyun's stare lingered locked together with Junhong's for a little longer, his face screaming, "Pay for what you'd done now. They should know how you're not all sugar, spice and everything nice."

"Whatever Daehyun was talking about, Junhongie must've fucked up big time," he read the few tweets that evening, all said by people who had watched that interview.

"I sense dramarama #DaeRoastingZelo"

"Looks like sweet maknae did something wrong. Let's hope it's nothing and he'll be forgiven."

Yet another load of tweets had him really on the edge, feeling triggered.

"Dae should step off and cut him some slack. He ain't doing anything bad."

"Everyone makes mistakes. Leave him to sort his himself, jeez."

It was a 50/50 situation, with a lot of people being on Junhong's side. But since everyone in real life who was aware of the whole story had taken the side that was against him, he started questioning his choices. Feeling bad for having people’s support even though they didn’t know how many wrong things he’d truly done.

And realized he'd really been acting mean all along.

"Daehyun hyung," he called that evening, surprised that Daehyun had picked up at all.

"What do you want-"

"Can we meet?" Junhong simply questioned, and found himself nervously biting his nails as he waited for a reply.

"Look, I just got done with the musical, and I'm very tired. And sleep sounds like a fun activity to do now-"

"Please," he pleaded, pausing a little before continuing, "I really need advice on how to fix my mistakes. And you're the one who could help me the most."

"I have to admit, if it wouldn't be for her sake, I would've stayed home," Daehyun announced as he sat across Junhong at the 24 hour cafe they had agreed to meet in, taking off his cap and neatly placing it next to himself in the table. Junhong gulped a little, seeing as Daehyun already knew where this conversation would lead off to without having been given any detail previously.

"So you figured what's the matter already?"

"I'm glad you're finally paying attention to it and snapping back to reality. But if you throw out another disrespectful and stupid view of yours, I'm leaving without additional comments and remarks. You really outdid yourself here, Junhong-ah. Even I feel bad, and I rarely do in the past time," Daehyun looked him dead in the eyes, and suddenly got all wary as he saw the look displayed on his face.

"Junhong-ah, are you.."

“.. No,” he turned, trying to hold it in first, yet failing and letting a sleeve run over his eyes to wipe the tears off.

“Okay, you finally broke down. I guess it’s time to be nice again,” Daehyun sighed, and waited for Junhong to collect himself enough to talk.

“Hyung, I don’t know what’s going on,” he simply looked at Daehyun as he nodded, as if telling him to continue.

“For how long have I been like this?”

“For a while already. I could count back, but that would make you even more devastated, so let’s spare it now,” the sentence didn’t help Junhong at all, yet he knew he wanted to continue. He had to.

“Like.. Ahh..” he was trying to find the right words, yet couldn’t.

“Take your time to formulate it. I’ll wait.”

And he indeed needed a while, until he stopped thinking and it all simply poured out of him like a waterfall.

He talked on about how he’d been feeling recently. How he had struggles seeing the point in continuing to go on the way he did, and how that made him act rather harshly. He told Daehyun about his lack of motivation, his issues with himself and the fact he would find himself rather unhappy about uncertain things all the time. 

He told how he really saw no reason for you to like him as much as you did, and how, somehow, that had turned him to act the way he did. He felt non-deserving of your love, because he wasn’t able to return just as much because of work, stress and recent emotional instability. And that made him reject all of your affection and attention, cutting it short by harshness. That made him turn you down so you wouldn’t shower him in affection anymore, because he felt like crying every time you did so. He had nothing to return, not because he didn’t love you. Because he wasn’t emotionally able to at that point.

“Oh god, it sounds so stupid now when I say it like that, but.. It’s how it was,” he wrapped up his little monologue, seeing no emotion in Daehyun’s eyes whatsoever. And he stayed silent, simply waiting. Waiting for agreement or getting called stupid and non-deserving, because that’s how he truly felt.

“So you love her?”

“I mean, is that even a question.. Yes.. A lot.”

“Then how the hell could’ve you done this-”

“I don’t know, okay!? All I know is that tomorrow is the 24th, all plane tickets are sold out and she won’t answer me. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if she blocked me.." he said, and hung hid head down low, tears brimming at his eyes again.

"Bad luck, right?”

“Hey, my whole life is hanging on a thin line here, and you can only say this much!?”

"It’s your own fault,” Daehyun shrugged, and Junhong had no other choice than to agree, “But hey, I guess we can try to fix it somehow.”

And there he was. Three blocks away from your apartment complex, feeling like passing out from all the running and the cold, yet continuing to head into your direction nonetheless. Having flown with the last available flight, having with the collective help of all the guys gotten his hands on the last available ticket. Having repressed screams of agony as the flight got delayed, an hour first, then two, upon finally taking off four and a half hours late. Having emotionally tired himself out of his mind, as he had finally realized somehow.

What if you actually wouldn’t open the door? You had all the reasons.

“Where is he,” your voice sounded stern, and Daehyun was taken aback by it, gulping down the piece of cookie he had just bitten into and clearing his throat, almost dropping his phone meanwhile in the process.

“Who are you talking about-”

“Junhong. Where is Junhong?”

“How should I know?” he said with a nervous chuckle, trying to take a sip of his drink but almost spilling it, and putting it back down, “I’ve been kinda giving him the silent treatment until he reverts back to normal-”

“Cut it, I won’t forgive you if you lie to me now, and I know you’re lying,” he sighed at the tone you used, and ran a hand through his hair, “He’s been all of a sudden blowing my phone up since yesterday. I have 52 missed calls from him, not talking about texts or anything else. What is he doing and where is he-”

“On his way to you,” Daehyun finally let it out and sighed in unison with you.

“I won’t let him in. He can take a flight back or something. Find a hotel. I won’t let him come in here, he’d ruined all already and I don’t need more pain-”

“To be honest, I totally understand. And I’m not telling you to give him a chance or anything. But he’d spilled a thing or two to me recently, and that changed the situation a little. Maybe, if not tonight, then another night - you could listen to all he has to say. Just maybe.”

And when you hung up the phone, you finally heard it. Knocking on your door.

“(Y/N)!!”

Hearing his voice in real life, after all of the fights and time spent apart, made you want to cry your eyes out. You tried to ignore his desperate calls and knocks, being genuinely grateful that you only lived in a two-story building, and, as far as you knew, all families and people from your staircase had gone off to celebrate somewhere else, and there was no one to hear or see him.

“(Y/N), please tell me you’re there!!”

You looked at the clock, and sighed. 23.58. Even when he had finally showed up, he was too late. Which, once again, made it seem like he didn’t care.

“(Y/N), please!! Let me in!”

You cautiously came to the door, and pulled yourself together to say only one simple sentence.

“Get fucking lost.”

His cries and screams continued, and you figured he was aware that you were standing at the other side of the door and listening to them all. To the sharp inhales, and the whimpers and broken cries he let out every now and then. To the knocks that had the door shaking, and to his desperate tries to get you to talk to him.

“(Y/N), I know you’re there. Please answer.”

“You don’t even have to let me in, just talk to me, please. Oh, please, I have so many things to say to you..”

And as you figured you had nothing to tell him in return, tears started falling at a rapid pace, and your back hit the door, your frame sliding to the floor as your body got submerged into quiet, uncontrollable sobs.

“(Y/N), I swear. I was supposed to be here hours ago, but my flight got delayed.”

“I know I am an idiot and an asshole for all I did. I know I should’ve gotten over myself sooner. I know I am the worst for only figuring I had to come yesterday night. I’m.. Oh god, I’m such a fucking failure. And I’m so sorry for all..”

You heard his cries getting weaker, and at some point you felt a thud as his whole frame hit the door, and you figured he had slid down to cry on the ground with his back against the door the same way you had a while ago on the other side of the door.

“I’ll stay here,” he muttered quietly, taking another sharp inhale, “I’ll stay here, (Y/N). With you, because that’s where I want to be. No hard feelings if you see me out here tomorrow morning, okay? I always sleep long and soundly after crying for hours. Just push my frame aside and ignore it, okay? I know I deserve it.”

And as your tears were still falling to the ground, you figured he was crying in the same way and position on the other side of the door, with it being the only thing that parted you from him. But you had promised to not let him in. He broke your heart and didn’t deserve it.

You’d actually fallen asleep there, and only woke up when in was around 5 AM. Dizzy at first, you tried to recall why you were in such a position at the door, and as you remembered, cold chills ran down your spine.

God, you hoped he had gone away. It was the end of December, after all, and spending a night in the staircase, accompanied by the fact some neighborhood kids had smashed in one of the staircase windows just a few days ago and it still wasn’t fixed, was what made you worry about him. It was so, so cold there, you were certain. He would definitely get sick after this, and you feared for how bad it would be.

“I’ll stay here, (Y/N). With you, because that’s where I want to be.”

Despite all, you couldn’t leave him out there. He was yours, and if he had come here and had done all of that, he had his reasons. Those reasons being feeling the need to tell you that he was aware of being an asshole, and was sorry for all he’d done. He was sorry for ruining your Christmas, and sorry for making it a permanent memory that would haunt you for years during festive season.

You stood up, carefully unlocking the door. As you tried to push it open, you felt something preventing you from doing so. Yup, he was still there.

Carefully, you managed to push it just open enough for you to sneak out. In the unlit staircase, with only the moon shining through the smashed in window, his frame was close to unnoticeable.

You shivered immediately. It was freezing out there, and his barely-visible-in-the-moonlight lips indicated it all - they had turned a blue-purple color, and his whole body seemed to be three shades paler than you recalled.

Switching on the light, you looked over his broken, curled up frame. He was shivering even in his sleep, and the sigh made you cry. What had you done?

“Junhong-ah,” you said quietly, trying to shake him awake. His brows furrowed, and in a worn out, half-conscious state he opened his heavy eyelids a little, trying to focus on the concerned eyes that were staring into his. He realized only after a significant amount of time, and broke into a barely-there, pained smile.

“(Y-Y/N)..”

“Come here, Junhong-ah,” you figured there was no time to make small talk. He was barely able to function.

You arms wrapped around his frame carefully, and you cooed at him to stand up. It took you two a solid minute to get into standing position, with him almost falling back as a violent sneeze came his way. His whole weight wasn’t something you thought you could handle, yet you had to, as he was barely dragging himself and basically leaned all of him onto you. You’d never seen him this week, but as his body pressed against yous, trying to find support in your much smaller frame, you realized how truly much he was shaking. From all the cold and the violent emotions.

“You’re so w-warm, (Y/N)..”

You left him and his fogged mind no time to come up with any other sentences, and tugged him inside. He felt violent shivers going all through his body as he entered the relatively warm space, and held onto you for dear life.

“I-i’ve ruined it.. (Y/N).. I’m so s-sorry-”

“I know, Junhong-ah. Now, please, don’t apologize. Come along,” you asked him as nicely as possible, seating him down on the bed as you went to pick up his suitcase from outside and locked the door, walking back to where he was.

He had curled up on your bed, and you worked around him as if he was a little child. Fishing tons of warm sweaters out of his suitcase, and pulling two of those on him. Getting him out of all of the cold outerwear gently and helping him dress in everything warm and dry. His stream of apologies never stopped, and all you could do was respond to him, telling him it was alright. You had heard him. You knew he was sorry.

You had forgiven him.

You held his frame close as you cuddled his body up with three blankets and yourself, letting him press his face against your chest as your arms were around him, feeling his violent shivers turning into smaller ones, until they disappeared completely, and he fell back asleep, squirming and turning every now and then but being gently held in place by you.

“Junhong-ah..”

He was awoken by a familiar voice the next morning, or rather day, as it was a little past twelve already when you shook him awake. You couldn’t wait any longer. You had to make sure he was alright.

“Mhmm..” he shifted and turned, feeling a wave of coldness going through his bones that made him flinch.

“How do you feel, Junhong-ah?” he heard your voice from above, and thought he was still outside of your door, dreaming. So he kept his eyes shut to make this dream last longer.

“A little c-chilly,” he answered, sneezing twice right after and sniffing once, “I think I-i’m sick..”

“It’s my fault.”

He realized he was too comfortable to be outside, and that, despite his body’s light shivers, he wasn’t covered in icy clothing anymore. His eyes slowly opened, and he was met with your crying face, your hands travelling up to cup his face as you felt all the guilt of the world on your shoulders and inside your chest.

“I should’ve let you in,” he felt a hot tear of yours landing on his cheek, “Yet I didn’t. And if I wouldn’t had been so full of myself, none of this would’ve happened-”

“You’re not to blame. You did as told, and I was the one breaking my promises,” he answered, seeing as you chuckled.

“I checked the clock. It was 23.58 when you came here, so technically you still made it in time for Christmas evening,” he chuckled along, feeling tears brimming at his eyes as well.

“Yeah, I made us spend Christmas each cuddled up at our own side of the same door, crying and feeling horrible. What a nice boyfriend I am.”

And he really felt like he didn’t deserve it when you lied on top of him, nuzzling your face in the crook of his neck. He really felt like he wasn’t worthy of holding you the way he did, but it all felt so damn right.

And it was a clear start of sorting your issues. Issues he’d made unintentionally, and regretted like absolutely nothing else in his lifetime.

He kept wandering around with a huge, fuzzy blanket for the whole day, his rather cute sneezes filling up the air, until you got a hold of him every now and then and guided him to bed, as if he was a lost puppy. A fever was the next thing to come, and you watched over him carefully, taking good care of the damage you were still certain you had caused, but he said it was his own fault.

It was a long night. Tons of sneezing, even more of blowing his nose. A lot of temperature and cold sweat, as well as nightmares from it and medication to keep him in a somewhat okay state. Yet he didn’t seem to mind, and simply lovingly watched as you ran back and forth, watching over him as if he was a little kid.

It was the next day you figured you should bring him to a doctor. So drugging him up and taking him along to your doctor, you sat carefully, listening to all the given instructions on how to take care of him. After all the check-ups, it seemed to be nothing but a rather serious cold. Still, he was told to be cautious. Having stayed out in the cold for so long after running miles, being a horrible mixture of horribly hot and sweaty under the coat and cold on the outside, had sure taken it’s toll, and there was still possibility it could evolve into something bigger and worse.

Yet by New Year’s Eve, he was somewhat alright already.

“You really didn’t let him in?”

“What was I supposed to do, Dae? You told me yourself to do as I felt like-”

“Okay, agreed. But, like, is he even alive after that?”

“Of course, idiot. As alive as ever. Doing three things non-stop - hugging, sneezing and apologizing.”

“Yep, sounds like him. Thanks for putting the right screws back into his head.”

During his whole stay he indeed continued on apologizing, yet he spilled it all only that evening in similar fashion like he spilled it to Daehyun, just less teary-eyed and more confident in receiving forgiveness.

His puppy eyes and sorry voice were enough to convince you he really was at his lowest point, and you moved from spot, walking up to him and wrapping him up in an embrace.

“You really are such a pain, Junhong-ah. You had me feeling bad for weeks.”

“Gonna add that to the list of reasons to hate myself, just wait a sec-”

“Please don’t,” you looked up to him, biting your lip and figuring it was a bad idea, yet you wanted to do it nonetheless.

“Goddamnit, I hope you’re not contagious.”

And with that, you rose to your tippy toes and kissed him, receiving a rather surprised and squirming reaction at first.

“Hey, what if I a-hmm-” he figured he wasn’t allowed to speak, because you could care less. And for a moment he allowed it to happen, as your kiss was the warmest thing that you’d tried to warm him up with yet. It was so familiar, something he figured he could hold onto. So welcoming, and always there for him and only him. A sensation he knew better than anything else, and could recall and recognize wherever and whenever. Yet after that moment of pleasure and total lack of straight thinking had passed, he pulled away unwillingly, chuckling at your protests but not letting you at his mouth once again.

“Do you really want to get sick?”

“Now that I think of it, no. Not at all.”

“Then we shouldn’t risk it. But yeah. I’ve missed you tons as well.”

And that night, as you figured you wouldn’t go out just yet, because Junhong was still half-sick and you really wanted him to get better soon, you had a nice little dinner at home, and slow-danced while laughing at each other into the new year.

Sleep had completely taken over him by 3 AM, and you traced his cheek, listening to his quiet snoring and staring down at his face of an angel.

“I’ll stay here, (Y/N). With you, because that’s where I want to be.”

“You really should,” you whispered rather to yourself, recalling this statement of his that had struck you and had stayed in your memory for longer, “You really should, Junhong-ah.”

“And I shall stay too. With you, my baby.”

[totesmccoats]

Doomsday Clock #1

We open in Watchmen’s New York, on November 22nd, 1992; which is 25 years to the day before this comic’s release, and also the week that Superman #75 – the Death of Superman – was released. A mob gathers outside the business headquarters of Adrian Veidt, the world’s smartest, and now most wanted man, for his orchestration of the “alien” attack on New York City that resulted in over three million dead and thousands more physically injured.

The hoax revealed, the fragile peace it ushered in rapidly collapses as Russia begins an invasion of an ununited Europe; North Korea expands their nuclear capabilities to match the rearmament of other nuclear states; and the President of the United States, Robert Redford, is too busy golfing to properly respond. Dozens of media voices in the US are replaced by one Schutzstaffel logoed National News Network that prepares people for a righteous nuclear war.

Amid this chaos, Rorschach breaks out two criminals, Marionette and her partner, Mime, from prison to bring them to his new partner – Ozymandias, who again tries to cure the world, this time by bringing back its Superman.

And, in a distant land, a Superman wakes up from a nightmare.

Whether or not you think this story is a good idea, you have to admit that this issue makes a strong argument for itself. The issue echos Watchmen in the same ways Watchmen echos, well, itself; presented it’s separate threads as thematic and visual reflections of each-other. Rorschach unlocks a prisoner’s cage, releasing them; just as soldiers key into a nuclear console, unleashing armageddon.

Geoff Johns may be the only person capable of picking up Watchmen, given that his personal superpower as a writer has been his reverence of old comic stories, and ability to weave their threads into new patterns and expand them into larger universes. He’s basically doing to Watchmen’s character what he’d previously done with Barry Allen and Hal Jordan. And while Johns is an incredible talent in his own right, he’s aided by his ability to match Alan Moore’s style of dialogue; particularly in his writing of Rorschach, who switches between gorey purple-prose in his narration, and article-less laconism in his speech.

Gary Frank is a perfect artist for matching Dave Gibbons’ detail heavy illustrations, giving the book a texture and shadow-heavy tone that conveys the anxiety and dread of its world. Where the resemblance breaks is with Brad Anderson’s colors, which are more realistic and understated than John Higgins’ brightly saturated pop-art aesthetic.

Doomsday Clock’s biggest achievement so far is that, against all expectations, it fits. Johns wrote a story that, so far, makes sense as a sequel to Watchmen, and manages to infuse it with the same political resonance and thematic weight to today as the original had in the 80s.

  Batgirl #17

Then: Batgirl and Robin close in on the Mad Hatter, and rescue Ainsley from his control; and Dick keeps Barbara from crossing a line.

Now: Batgirl and Nightwing close in on the Red Queen, who has a few more tricks up her sleeve, including giant nanobots, and bringing Nightwing under her control.

I really enjoyed this entire Dick/Babs story, and this issue gives both timelines a really strong ending. The “then” timeline gives the two a solid shared experience for their relationship to start from; a time where they both needed to rely on the other to get through something incredibly taxing, physically, and mentally, but mostly emotionally. And in the present, the two work on a case recalls all those same emotions and have to rely on each-other in many of the same ways. As George Lucas might say, “it rhymes.” And Wildgoose’s art perfectly captures both the couple’s intimacy, and their emotional distance, in the two’s body language. If you’re a fan of Dick/Babs, this is a story that should be in your collection.

  Wonder Woman #35

Wonder Woman’s brother – Jason! Who he is, and how he came to be!

Glaucus begins the tale of raising Jason, Diana’s secret brother; from the day that he discovered his powers until the day Jason wouldn’t need him anymore. And from that point, Jason takes over, telling of how, even though he kept his powers a secret from the world and the mythic figures who would look for him, they found him anyway.

The most interesting part of this otherwise typical origin story is how it riffs on the familiar stories of Superman discovering and training his powers – particularly the version told in Man of Steel. Like Clark in that movie, Jason is told by his adoptive father to keep his powers hidden so that he wouldn’t be hunted for them. But, hewing a bit closer to Wonder Woman’s own origin, Glaucus does ask Hercules to train Jason, realizing that if his powers are only going to grow, he should learn how to use them, even if he shouldn’t.

Once Jason takes over narration, he tells of how hiding his powers created a hole in his life that he couldn’t quite identify until he saw how his sister – Wonder Woman – was using her powers to help people.

Unfortunately, Jason’s story ends on a cliffhanger, which means that we’re dedicating at least two issues of Wonder Woman completely to the history of this completely new, and relatively unimportant dude. Superhero comics really doesn’t need any more riffs on this origin story. We’ve seen it all, in almost every possible permutation – and we especially don’t need it taking up room in a Wonder Woman book. Also, who are Glaucus and Jason even talking to? They’re supposedly in completely different places, so…how is this even supposed to work? And if they aren’t “talking” to anyone, then why is Glaucus’ narration written phonetically?

  The Flash #35

Meena steals the Negative-Speedforce from Flash, and explains that she’s loyal to Black Hole because they’re the ones who saved her when Godspeed pulled her into the Speedforce when Barry had already written her off as dead. Then she escapes back to Black Hole’s labs, where she meets with Black Hole’s true leader – Raijin, God of Lightning.

Meanwhile, Barry and Wally finish off the rest of the Black Hole troops at the demolition derby, agreeing to work better in tandem to explore the real potential of the Speedforce to better combat Meena and Black Hole.

Kristen continues her investigation into Central City’s new crimelord at Iron Heights when she’s interrupted…

After Flash drops Wally off at home, where Wally comforts Iris; he gets a call from Warden Wolfe – there’s been a murder at Iron Heights.

This issue is an improvement over the last one, which mainly rehashed a bunch of information we already knew; but is still very exposition heavy, and does more work in introducing new plot questions than it does in making progress along already set-up plot threads. The issue’s biggest development is a return to status-quo, Barry’s got his usual powers back. Everything else is pretty much the same: Iris still needs her space from Barry; Barry and Wally are still repairing their relationship; Black Hole and the new Central City crimelord are still at large.

  Nightwing: The New Order #4

Kate Kane and the Crusade discover that Jake isn’t just immune to the power-neutralizer, his biology actively fights against it, making him that much more of a threat to the current world order.

Dick wakes up in the Titan’s secret headquarters, surrounded by Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, (Kid) Flash, and Lois Lane(?), who is a Blue Lantern now. It’s not the sweetest of reunions, with there still being a lot of bad blood between Dick and the Titans, who are outlaws under the new system Dick ushered in. But, even if nothing else, they can agree on rescuing Jake – especially after their man on the inside reveals that Jake can possibly reverse everything.

And here’s where this story goes full X-Men. We got the ad-hoc family with interpersonal conflicts, the one mutant who can cure everything, the government oppressors; the whole shebang, really. Honestly, I never got into the X-Men, nor the Titans, but a good template’s a good template; and this story’s pulling it off, even if it’s really dropped the ball on some of the more resonant themes of systemic persecution in favor of more of a rescue the POW vibe.

  Black Panther #167

Shuri retrieves Dr. Franklin from a maximum security prison, legally, and brings him to Wakanda to continue their investigation into Klaw’s return. While he’s busy with that, Shuri leads T’Challa into the Djalia to learn more about Wakanda’s mythic history and the Originators. What he learns disturbs him. The Wakandans were not the native people of their land, and they did not take it peacefully.

Oofa-Doofa. This may be the heaviest reveal of Coates run so far, but one that plays directly to his strengths. Wakanda was built on genocide, their gods made as literal weapons against the native Originators. And now T’Challa, who has already recently made so many decisions to make his country – the most powerful in the world – more democratic; has to decide what to do after confronting his country’s original sin.

Basically, if you haven’t read Coates’ Case for Reparations, I suggest you do before the next issue.

  Snotgirl #8

It’s the boy’s issue!

Sunny wakes up from a weird dream where Charlene gives birth to a green puppy, and goes to meet Ashley at the sports club before he marries Meg. While the two attempt to bond over Squash, Ash tells Sunny that he’d like to bang Lottie before he marries Meg, which really gets under Sunny’s skin.

After Squash, Virgil, who’s up to something accidently walks in on the two in the locker room and gets all hot and bothered.

Ash and Sunny continue to the showers, and Ash will not shut up about sex and girls and how much he wants to bang Lottie. It’s really gross, and even Sunny wonders if he can keep up this hang-out much longer.

Meanwhile, Lottie is bored and alone, and makes it worse by texting her friends randomly; and when she runs out of those, she texts Detective John Cho – who instantly responds because he’s also thirsty for Lottie.

Later, John happens to join Sunny and Ash in the sauna, where he reveals that he’s been friends with Sunny since they were kids. Ash asks everyone about their kinks, because he’s gross as heck, and John reveals he also has a thing for girls with green hair. At this, Sunny finally loses his cool and gets into a short fight with Ash, at least until their towels fall off and it gets too weird.

Getting home, Sunny finally checks his texts.

This issue is just as meandering as usual, but the change in perspective is nice. We’re finally in the head of someone sane as opposed to Lottie’s addled narcissism. The issue is also a great look into the phenomena of “locker room talk,” in that it frames that sort of behavior as just as bad and gross even in a locker room. And to his credit, Sunny eventually does stand up for his girls instead of letting boys be boys.

AND OH BOY IS THIS ISSUE HOMO AF. Just…all the sweaty muscle boys talking about their “zords”!

Comic Reviews 11/22/17 Doomsday Clock #1 We open in Watchmen’s New York, on November 22nd, 1992; which is 25 years to the day before this comic’s release, and also the week that Superman #75 - the Death of Superman - was released.